A MAN from Griffithstown has been jailed for 12 months after downloading thousands of indecent images of children.

John Smith, 56, of Edward Street, Griffithstown, was sentenced at Newport Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to multiple charges of possessing and copying indecent images.

The court heard a police search took place in August last year at a property in Bristol - where he lived at the time - and a computer was seized which was later found to contain more than 2,300 images.

These included 268 images (including 115 videos) under category A - the most serious category - 27 images and 21 videos in category B and 2,000 images and 13 movies in category C.

The court heard children in the images were aged from around four or five up to 15 and that the images had been downloaded from May 2013 onwards.

Lawrence Jones, prosecuting, added that some of these images were “extreme” and that Smith had used an “anti-forensic tool” to try and remove traces of the images from his computer.

On January 4, Gwent Police conducted a search of Smith's new address in the Pontypool area where a laptop containing 14 category C images was found. Smith was arrested and admitted to downloading the images in a police interview.

Dianne Hays, defending, said Smith “knew he had a problem for a long time”, had previously smashed a hard drive with a sledgehammer as he didn't want to tell his partner about the images and that he "sought help the day after police visited his property in Bristol".

This treatment included going to a GP who referred him to mental health services and the Bristol Wellbeing Centre, the court heard.

His defence added that after being told he “couldn’t be assisted any further” another foundation offered a 10-week course priced at £700, which Smith couldn’t afford.

The court heard that Smith was “desperate for help and support”.

Judge Daniel Williams, sentencing, told Smith that “behind each image is a real child and real abuse” and described the images as “utterly dreadful”.

He added that the sentence was aggravated by the age of some of the children and the number of videos classed as category A.

The judge sentenced Smith to 12 months in prison, of which he must serve at least half, and made him the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

The defendant will also be listed on the sexual offenders register for 10 years.